A few happy days in Asheville

[nomadchowwoman]

We had not been to Asheville in several years and were blown away by all the changes--and the amazing food culture that has sprung up--in this beautiful city. Except for a jaunt to The Moose Cafe, we confined our dining to the downtown area, and we pretty much loved every bite.

Cucina 24: we loved the food here so much the first night, we ate here again on the third. Both times, we started with the chicken liver crostini. On the first night, we then split a very generous salad with baby beets (I think), white anchovies, and croutons--it was excellent. My husband ordered chitarra "carbonara" which featured lots of fava beans in addition to the usual suspects; this was rich and very delicious. I ordered the quail on the menu that night: two, perfectly grilled, semi-boneless were served on a bed of polenta, with chanterelles and some bits of Benton ham. We shared the brown butter cake (wow!) w/salted caramel ice cream for dessert.

On our revisit, we added another starter to the chicken liver crostini (a small plate @$5 so another starter wasn't too excessive)--fresh ricotta w/favas, peas, and mint on ciabatta. Again, we swooned. We split a salad of baby greens that had, I think, blackberries in it. It was lightly dressed and perfect, as far as we were concerned. My husband opted, after changing his mind several times, the tagliatelle bolognese, and it was a very good bolognese with beautiful pasta. The chitarra "carbonara" was on the menu again, and after changing my mind a few times, I ordered it. (I can't resist favas, and they were generous with these. I enjoyed every decadent bite. Again, we went for splitting the fabulous brown butter cake, and again, we left very happy.

Zambra: our concierge told us this was her hands-down favorite restaurant, and we love ordering tapas/small plates so we tried this on our second night. We found every single thing we tried to be stellar. I wish I remembered them more exactly, but I guess I drank a little too much wine after an excellent martini! We had pomegranate-glazed pork springrolls, scallops w/orange, grilled baby octopus on an arugula salad, mountain trout w/hazelnuts, pork belly, a salad in which beets were predominant, and something featuring ice cream for dessert. This was lots of food for us--and we were very pleasantly surprised by the bill (under $100). We'd happily return to Zambra.

Modesto: we wandered into this restaurant, lured by the thought of a nice wood-fired pizza but a little dubious b/c the place was empty at high lunch hour. We split a terrific (and good-sized) pizza w/wild mushrooms, garlic, and cheese (fontina and mozzarella, I think); we also split a huge salad with lots of white anchovies and large chunks of roasted sardines. My husband didn't care for those large sardine pieces, but I thought they were just fine and the salad very tasty.

Burgerworx: we stopped in for a quick burger upon arriving in town. Despite the NC law that requires burgers be more cooked than we like, we enjoyed these, which still managed to be juicy. I appreciated the availability of WW buns, the Duke mayo, sriracha option, and excellent fresh veggies (nice ripe tomato slice a big plus). We stopped here on our way out of town and grabbed a burger that was a little disappointing in terms of juiciness the second time around, but still better than your average fast-food burger. The guy sitting at the next table was oohing and ahhing over the fries; they looked good but we abstained.

Breakfasts: Twice we had breakfast in the cafe (Cafe 151 or something like that) in our hotel (Hotel Indigo, which we loved and got a great deal on through Hotwire but noticed the weekend rates were frightfully high). Both times we split one order of bagel and lox ($9), and this was the best lox ("pastrami-style") bagel I've ever ordered in a hotel (including many in NYC), The lox and the typical go-withs (cream cheese, capers, onion, tomato, arugula) were first rate. What a delicious bargain.

Upon a recommendation, we drove out to Moose cafe for breakfast. I'm not a big breakfast person, but my husband is, so he really wanted a big southern breakfast. That we got. The biscuits and molasses were good, but filling, coming as they did before the breakfast. I ordered the country ham breakfast, which was huge. It was the best country ham I've ever had, and I was glad to know that I can enjoy this. Both our breakfasts came w/a giant "moosecake" (pancake), presumably their specialty but surprisingly mediocre. (Though they were purportedly "blueberry," mine had only a couple of specks of blue-ishness and my husband had two actual blueberries.) No matter, because neither of us could finish the rest of our breakfasts, let alone the pancakes!

We can't wait to get back to Asheville: we loved the city, the views, the weather, the folks we met, the independent bookstores and other shops, the food. We're dying to try some of the many restaurants (quite surprised by how many).

[Heightsgirl]

Thanks for posting about Modesto's. We just moved to the area, we've been to Carmel's for some solidly okay food, we've had really nice sandwiches at City Bakery, and we've tried desperately to find good Mexican (with no luck). I was starting to think that Asheville as a foodie destination was perhaps subjective...

But then we happened to end up at Modesto's because BurgerWorx was closed (the chili cheeseburger with a fried egg and a Yuengling, soooo good!) and boy did we hit the jackpot! I had the ciopinno, the missus had the ribeye. If I really had to work at a critique, I would say it was a tad too much salt in the ciopinno, and a tad too much pepper in the risotto, but that's really nitpicking! The food and service were spot on,and it was worth every cent! I can't wait to go back and try a pizza. Yum!

[Heightsgirl]

I just wanted to follow up on my post about Modesto's. Now I see why the reviews are all over the place. We've been five times over the past 6 weeks or so. The first night, we had the rib eye and the cioppino. It was fantastic. Over the next two visits we tried the grilled romaine salad, wild mushroom pizza and the rib eye again. Also fantastic. We treated friends to dinner a couple of weeks back, and they loved their pasta. My rabbit was dry and overcooked, but one falter does not ruin a restaurant for me and the polenta cake more than made up for it.

Then my parents came to visit us from Florida and we couldn't wait to bring them to Modesto's for dinner. I told them how great the pizza was, and how much we always enjoyed the experience. It was terrible. The service was lousy, the menus had food on them, and the food was so bad that we ended up sending part of it back. The goat cheese filled zucchini blossoms were so greasy and bitter that they were inedible. The pizza was soggy and just barely warm. The steak was tough and cold. The lamb was tasty, but I sat so long without flatware with which to eat it, that I really wasn't in mood for it by the time I got up and got my fork and knife. The same thing happened with dessert. We were left so long that we lost interest and ended up closing the bill and going down the street for dessert.

Needless to say, it will be a long time (if ever) before we head back to Modesto's for a meal.

[nomadchowwoman]

Thanks for reporting. I'll be in Asheville again a few weeks for a very short stay, so am watching this board carefully as I plan the eats.

[Heightsgirl]

The weather's great right now, and I hope it stays that way for your visit! Lately, we've been loving Mamacita's on Biltmore Ave (right past the Orange Peel). Really nice Latin food. They even have some Chili con Queso for us Texans!

Best part, the new waitress described the stuffed pepper as being a jalapeno, but a really big one. Lol! It was chili relleno in a poblano. Bless her. Heehee.

[Foodher]

Thanks for this review...hat to hear that breakfast at the Moose Cafe was recommended. It's ok but there are so many better options

[nomadchowwoman]

I'll do some better research next time; we're planning to go back in the fall. Any specific suggestions I should make a note of now?

[chezdy]

Best breakfast by 100 miles any direction is Sunny Point.
Great tapas aside from Zambra (which I love too) is Curate.
Head to Flat Rock and hit the bakery for the best pizza in the area (besides Marcos in Asheville, which is very very good as well)
Glad you had a great time!

[nomadchowwoman]

Thank you; I've started taking notes. Where is Sunny Point? Also, how is City Bakery? It certainly looked good although I just grabbed a coffee there.

[danna]

Sunny Point is on Haywood street in West Asheville. (the hip and hippie side of town...nearish the Admiral)

City Bakery is good for what it is, a decent sandwich on good bread, some reasonably good desserts. Nothing super-special though. I go there from time to time. Locals: did anyone else think it was a little better when it was called Blue Moon?

[nomadchowwoman]

I kept hearing about West Asheville. Is it walkable from downtown? Our hotel was on Haywood--is that the same Haywood? We did walk down Montfort Ave, to the cemetery, and then just around the neighborhood. We could easily have strolled farther, but I wasn't sure what direction we were in at the time.
I did try to get a reservation at the Admiral as I'd read it was really good on these boards, but it was impossible on our nights except for one pretty late reservation, which we ended up cancelling, but I had no idea where it was located. Is the Admiral a must-do next time?

[miss piggy]

There is a W Asvl Haywood and a downtown Haywood. I guess technically the same road but due to the highway separating the two neighborhoods it is not safe to walk IMO not to mention it's really not a walkable distance. But it's just one quick exit up the highway - less than a 5 minute drive door-to-door if you're staying downtown.

The Admiral is definitely worth it! It is in West Asheville, not downtown.

[LBD]

I had a brief stop over in Asheville the other night and ate at The Admiral, very very very good.